Crowds get a lift from tram jam

Live music sessions are helping smooth the ride for some commuters.

By Annabel Ross

IT TOOK a couple of Swedes to come up with an idea that is quintessentially Melbourne. For Nicklas Wallberg, 28, and Carl Malmsten, 27, the Tram Sessions project has been a labour of love.

Though they attended the same univeristy in Stockholm, Wallberg and Malmsten didn't become friends until both were studying communications in Perth. In late 2009, they moved to Melbourne and began hunting for jobs.

From myki to major key: Little John plays for a captive tram audience. From left: Greg Field (standing), John Dickson, Bill Deeble, Brooke Penrose and Damien Hooper (front right).Credit:John Woudstra

They wanted to do something that would show their creativity to potential employers. "We both love music and wanted to do something with music and we thought, 'What can we do that's Melbourne, what's Melbourne?', and we came up with music on trams," Wallberg says.

The first tram session was an unauthorised gig involving a singer playing guitar. A handful of rogue gigs followed, with video clips from each session posted on a blog. As interest grew, Wallberg realised that if they wanted to be taken seriously, they'd need approval from Yarra Trams - and insurance.

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Appreciative passengers watch on.Credit:John Woudstra

Conventional attempts to solicit sponsorship through the Yarra Trams website failed initially, but when French company KDR took over operations and announced a meet-and-greet with commuters, Wallberg saw his opportunity. "We found out which tram stops they were going to and just rocked up without them knowing," he says. Bombarding the visiting KDR officers with smiles and press kits, they managed to secure a meeting.

Five months of polite pestering, developing the website and making videos to support their cause led to the eventual signing of a deal with Yarra Trams last December.

Tram Sessions is still a not-for-profit venture. "We get some help to have insurance covered, but other than that, we don't make any money, that's not the aim of it," Wallberg says. Breaking the boredom of public transport and "bringing culture into the public space" is reward enough for now, he says.

He recalls one session where ex-Australian Idol Lisa Mitchell led a group of songbirds in an acoustic cover of Madonna's Like a Prayer on the No. 78 tram. Wallberg was concerned that an elderly woman didn't seem to be enjoying the music. "But at the end of the session she looked Em [his girlfriend] in the eyes, squeezed her arm tightly and said, 'This was the best tram ride of my life', and walked off."

Wallberg runs a tram session about every three weeks. The tram line is chosen to match the style of the musician. "So if it's rock, we'll go for the 86 [Fitzroy tram]," Wallberg says. Volume limitations rule out metal or opera acts, but everything else is fair game.

Last Thursday night, Melbourne Life went along to watch Little John perform on the City Circle tram. Wallberg felt that the group, a local bluegrass band, was a good fit for the old tour tram's retro aesthetic. In a slight oversight, the five-piece, equipped with guitars, a mandolin, drum and double-bass, did battle with a recorded voiceover pointing out tourist attractions before the driver finally disconnected it.

Luck turned Little John's way when a gaggle of about 20 schoolgirls clambered on board - year 8 students on an excursion from Kyabram. Giggling as they spotted the band, the girls started whooping and dancing almost immediately. Drivers pausing beside the tram at red lights looked bewildered, then amused, as they surveyed the scene.

Passengers and band were all smiles. "If I was a teenager - boy or girl - coming down to the big smoke and saw a band being filmed on a tram, that'd be something you'd remember as part of the trip," says drummer Bill Deeble. "It was fun to be part of that."

In the beginning, Wallberg would try to cajole bands into participating, but as word of the sessions spreads, musicians have been getting in touch with him. "They see it on the website, they see that it's real, it's not produced, they can play whatever and however they want to," Wallberg says. "But you never know what you're going to get, and that's the beauty of the project as well."

Wallberg has just launched a campaign to secure his biggest act to date - the Foo Fighters. Wallberg is hoping that a Facebook petition will help sway the group to play a session while here in December.

"Foo Fighters seem like the perfect fit for us," he says. "They'd have a lot of fun on the tram."